BOSTON (CBS) – Two Logan baggage handlers have been busted for stealing from checked luggage. Investigators say the pair took money, laptops, cameras and other high end items right out of passengers bags.

Passengers arriving at Terminal E, where the two men worked and stole items and were ultimately arrested, didn’t take the news lightly. “It’s just an invasion of privacy,” said Jimmy Kinneen.

Ken Lapenta, returning from Ireland said, “(it) makes you nervous.”

WBZ-TV’s Diana Perez reports

All of the theft victims flew international, on Lufthansa.

“To worry about other people going through it and you already have to deal with five TSA officers going through it. The thought of once you give it to them someone taking something, it’s a little concerning,” said Kristina Hultman.

In court Wednesday, State Police say the two men, both 25-years-old, worked together to steal items. Officers set up hidden cameras and caught Joshua Wright and LaShawn Fontenot hiding laptops in their sweaters, cameras in their backpacks.

WBZ tried to talk to both men at their homes. No one answered at Wright’s Brighton apartment and a woman at Fontenot’s Lynn home said he lives there only sometimes. Still State Police say they recovered some of the stolen from that house.

In all the two men stole cash, three laptops, at least two cameras, boxes of tobacco and much more.

“I think it’s horrible if they do that. You have trust in stuff and it shouldn’t be stolen,” says Kinneen.

While TSA officers are watched on surveillance video as they check your luggage, baggage handlers get a free pass at your stuff. In fact back in 2009, TSA official George Nacarra admitted that Logan Airport has holes in its security system. “There could be more closed circuit TV cameras,” he says.

The pair were employed by an outside company called Swissport which works for Logan. State Police say that company was very cooperative in its investigation. Both men will be back in court in April and have been banned from returning to Logan.

It’s not always an option to carry on everything. But given how TSA requires locks which they can open, I wonder how hard it is for baggage handlers to get TSA keys for those same locks. No, I’m not blaming TSA for this one. It’s not their fault.

You people are idiots.. Read the article morons. It WAS NOT TSA OFFICERS that stole from the bags. 99% of stuff stolen is by Baggage handlers who work for $5.15 an hour from private companies who handle your bag.

The problem is, cameras are NOT everywhere. Since you basically have to leave luggage unlocked/unsecured, it is the airport’s and airline’s responsibility to secure your luggage while in their cure. Perhaps we should be starting some legals proceedings suing them for negligence. Make the cost of their laziness enough, and perhaps they’ll take some reasonable care in securing your belongings. They charge you enough now…make them do something for all their fees.

This is what you get when you hire $7.00 part-time losers to perform the job of trained,bonded professional baggage handlers. What you should be worried about is not what these scumbags steal from the luggage; but what they could ADD after the bags are checked in. All the major airlines are trying to save money by hiring these “OUTSOURCE” companies to provide ramp service. Do you really want the person who made your breakfast burrito doing a pre-departure safety check…or fueling an aircraft that your seat will be on at 25,000 feet?

Right on Ken,
Even scarier, do some research on where the airlines are having their engines and aircraft overhauled and serviced so they can save a few more bucks.
The race to the bottom continues to fuel the profits for the 1%.

Nothing new here. I once packed jam to take to friends. Bottles were factory sealed and had plastic around the cap. Wrapped each container in clear wrap ad a ziplock bag. Arrived at my destination and every one of the bottles had been unwrapped, opened and there was a fingers worth of jam missing from each one. Now that’s just plain sick.

yet when this news outlet contacted all the airline carriers over at Logan they flatly denied any passenger theft occurs. They believe they hire the and most respected ex-cons the Probation allows to walk, even though some were serving 6 life sentences.

My daughter had a handler urinate in her luggage while on a business trip to Washington DC. Nothing valuable but her clothing and the bag itself were ruined. To open it and URINATE! What kind of garbage are they hiring? She was compesated for the bag.

As outraged as I am by the crimes mentioned here, as a person of color I’m equally outraged at the stereotyping going on in these comments. Frankly, to paint us all with the same brush these two punks used to tarnish themselves shows a lack of intelligence. Crime knows no culture boundaries — try to remember that, please. Thanks.

These morons are lucky enough to have a good job and yet they can’t resist the urge to blow it all by stealing from others. This is the same airport that was controlled by political insiders who have never had the slightest idea on what the word “security” means. We just have to look back 10 years to understand that fact. They also had people at that time working at Logan who weren’t even in the country legally so this latest event is really no big surprise. I wonder if they will get to keep their jobs when they say it was “only once”?

People with extnesive criminal records can’t even work at an airport. all the people badged to work within secure areas of the airport have to go through Criminal history checks alot stricter than most companies – many of the bag handlers are working it as a second job with very few hours and keep doing it for the flight benefits only as ithat is the only thing making it worth the while.

exactly. that’s the most jaw-dropping part of this whole story. who cares about people losing cash and cameras? if you’re dumb enough to put those kinds of things in CHECKED LUGGAGE (DUH!)…. the crazy part is that any terrorist can just get a job as a baggage handler, or better yet, pay one off a bunch of money to put a “package” in a bag, and… KABLOOEY… we’re done. Security is a joke… security theater by TSA. Sad, maddening and scary, all rolled into one.

The only real crime one can be prosecuted for is stupidity. If these guys were smart they would have become CEOs and had their companies steal things from people so they could absolve themselves of responsibility and give themselves 5 million dollar bonuses on top of it.

I never travel with luggage anywhere… I ship my belongings via FED-EX two days before I travel… Ship it right to my hotel or where I stay… Sure it costs a few bucks… But nobody goes through your FED-EX, nothing gets stolen, nothing gets lost, and best of all TSA does not put there grubby dirty hands on my stuff… No luggage check in or out… I ship it back home the same way.. just keep a return shipping label in your box with packing tape… drop off at the hotel desk and they call FED-EX to come pick it up… Simple easy and no extra baggage fee’s…

This is just not news. It has been happening for years, not just here but in major airports around the world. Narita is a good example. A good friend had his whole families baggage rifled and EVERYTHING of value was taken! Not only in the baggage but in security checks too. My wife was carrying a very expensive food processor in her carryon and they took that……….a weapon. They didn’t even give her the option of taking out the tiny 1.5 inch blades in the cup. They said calling a supervisor would have her missing her flight back to Mpls………They get you any way they can.

i have been fueling planes at the airport for 20 years..international flights ,.and i have seen it all . this has been going on for years. this will never stop because they do not have the manpower to do it. they catch some but i know of people that have never been caught.oh , the airport was logan